Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Washing Dishes

So... I'm really trying to 'be green' -- well at least green-er. I started using some eco-friendly dishwashing liquid (for the dishwasher).



Yeah.. it sucks. I'm not always sure that the dishes are clean, so I run the dishwasher again. Then I waste all that water. Not very green.

I looked at the label. No phosphates. Good for the environment, yes. Good for cleaning dishes, eh... not so much. I understand the need to reduce the amount of phosphates being put back into our water supply. Really, I do. I understand the whole algal bloom increase with phosphate increase and everything.

But, I also understand the need to clean my dishes. I just bought some new rubbermaid plastic containers (to cut down on the plastic baggies & individual portion containers I send in the kids' lunches<-- see, I'm trying). They were clean out of the box, but I always want to wash them before using them. So... I put them in the dishwasher. Washed them and they came out FILTHY! Very disappointing.

What to do? What to do? After looking some things up, I see that there are low-phosphate dishwashing detergents, but they are EXTREMELY expensive and not easily found (have to buy in bulk off of the internet). I did see that Method has a phosphate free option that is getting the best reviews of any of the phosphate frees... hmmm.. may have to try that.
So, what do you use?

5 comments:

EngineerHousehold6 said...

I know I left you a comment on FB about this, but I just wanted to leave it here too incase anyone else wanted to try it.

Try Seventh Generation Dishwashing liquid (you can get it at the commisary). The Palmolive left my dishes with a horrid film all over them. If you're worried about them being clean, run them in hot water and/or sani rinse. I really like the 7th Gen! My dishes come out clean.

BTW, Tom called the Palmolive people to complain about the film (apparently they get ALOT of calls about it), they said to run a dish cycle with white vinegar to get rid of the film. It did help a bit, but I ended up scrubbing them all by hand.

Here are some online coupons for 7th Gen.

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/coupons

EngineerHousehold6 said...

Oh, Palmolive also sent a rebate check for the dishsoap, a bunch of coupons and some coloring books for the kids. It was nice, but I'll never use it again.

Analee said...

this is a good blog to look at - they reviewed charlie's soap and you can probably look up other green options for cleaning.

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/01/20/charlies-soap-natural-laundry-detergent-and-all-purpose-cleaner-a-mixed-review/

i do like the 7th generation dishwashing liquid (unscented). that is what we used to wash bottles - but, now we don't have that anymore. no more bottles. it had great bubbles.

i wish we had a dishwasher so i could tell you what we used. ;)

Doc said...

Are you sure it's not your air vent and drain? I remember you had problems with it several times in the past. A poor draining and/or filtering washer could mean lots of food particles on your dishes, so it may not be the soaps fault.

Unknown said...

I totally had the same problem! I tried the vinegar thing, I tried to use "dishwasher cleaner" thinking it was my dishwasher. Then I was complaining to my husband and he said "Did you change dishwasher soap?" and I was like...Oh yeah, I sure did. I went back to my good old Cascade and my dishes have been wonderful since. Yuck on the Eco Phosphate Free Palmolive!